Bilour lashes out at Finance Ministry

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Railways Ghulam Ahmad Bilour has lashed out at the Finance Ministry saying that despite allocation of funds in the budget, Railways was not getting anything from the allocated funds.

Talking to media here on Saturday at Cantonment Railways Station on arrival of the first Business Train, the minister said that Railways would not be privatized. He said the Railways had demanded Rs11 billion to repair the thirty year old locomotives but regretted that even the organization was not being released funds from the allocated budget.

He said he has told the prime minister that if the funds were not released, he would prefer to resign and go home rather than accepting another ministry.

Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said that Business Train would facilitate traders and industrialists and help in the restoration to goods trains to generate more income for the department.

He sad the Pakistan Railways has 500 engines and of them only 127 are operational and the rest need overhaul and maintenance.

He regretted that in the past Motorway was build but no one paid attention to the deteriorating situation in Pakistan Railways. He asked the investors to invest in Pakistan Railways to keep it on the track.

The business train reached only 15 minutes late and was received with enthusiasm by the employees. Passengers described their journey as appreciable and said the services provided during the journey were much better.

General Manager Pakistan Railways Saeed Akhtar said the business train has opened the way for more new trains. He assured that every possible step would be taken to provide better facilities to the traveling public.

Chief Executive of the Business Train Zafar Chaudhry said they would try to remove deficiencies felt during the first trip.

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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will leave for Gulf State of Qatar tomorrow (Monday) to meet with the leadership and discuss peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

It is worth mentioning here that Afghan Taliban last month announced they were setting up a political office in Qatar to facilitate talks.

PM Gilani's spokesman said Saturday that Gilani would leave for Qatar tomorrow (Monday) to discuss the peace process with the Qatar government leaders.

Prime Minister Gilani will hold talks on the Taliban's plans to set up a representative office in Qatar.

The US is continuing to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan but also is tentatively exploring peace talks as a way to end the 11-year conflict, including a potential offer to release Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo.

Some US and Afghan officials believe Pakistan - which sees Afghanistan as within its sphere of influence - is attempting to derail peace efforts and continues to support some elements of the insurgency.

Pakistan denies this and complains the US and Afghanistan has kept it in the dark about plans to launch peace talks.

Foreign Ministry spokesman said the premier will discuss the Taliban's proposed representative office with Qatar's leaders, although the topic is not on a formal agenda.

The spokesman declined to comment on Afghan plans to take control of the peace talks by meeting Taliban representatives in Saudi Arabia.

The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai also claims the US has failed to keep it informed about Qatar's involvement in the peace process.

In December, Afghanistan recalled its ambassador from Qatar in protest.

Last month, Afghanistan officials said they would instead soon meet Taliban representatives in Saudi Arabia, which is a long-time ally of Pakistan. The Taliban denied this and said it had agreed so far to meet only the US.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, in Kabul this week for talks, said her country backed an Afghan-led peace process, but she did not get into particulars.

Afghanistan wants Pakistan to guarantee safe passage to peace talks for Taliban leaders who are sheltering on Pakistani soil. Kabul also wants Pakistan to transfer senior Taliban leaders that it is holding in custody to Afghanistan.

Karzai is expected to press these demands during a trip to Pakistan later this month. –INP

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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Peoples’ Party and PML-Q have reached agreement on seat adjustment for the Senate elections in the Federal Capital and Punjab seats.

According to well-informed sources in both the parties, the PPP would support PML-Q Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed from the Federal Capital seat and party's Secretary Information Kamil Ali Agha from Punjab.

The PML-Q is also demanding one seat each in Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa but due to less than the required representation in the two provinces, it is unlikely the PPP would accede to the demand.

In Balochistan, where the party won 21 seats, Chaudhry Shujat Hussain and Mushahid Hussain Sayed paid a visit to Quetta last week.

The sources said their meetings with the provincial assembly members were successful and if the members showed unity in their ranks, the party could bag four seats.

It is worth mentioning that PML-Q would be the major loser after the 2nd March Senate elections as 20 out of 21 Senators of the party would retire.

If the party gets six seats in the next elections, its strength would come down to seven, which is one/third of the present strength. –INP

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ISLAMABAD: Six foreign countries including Afghanistan have banned the import of medicines from Pakistan after massive deaths in alleged medicines reaction scam.

It should be mentioned that more than 40 medicines companies of Pakistan export medicines to foreign countries getting a foreign exchange of $193 million annually.

But after recent medicines reaction scam Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya and three other African countries have stopped import of medicines from Pakistan.

Keeping in view the worsening situation an important meeting of medicines manufacturers, exports and concerned authorities has been called today (Sunday).

The meeting would review the issues including steps for stopping purge of fake medicines in markets and regaining the trust of importer countries. –INP

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KARACHI: Pakistan's export to European Union (EU) can surge by at least 30 to 40 percent or $ 700 to $ 1 billion in value if we fully utilize our existing potential and capacity in 75 items, now enjoying duty-free access to the EU for two years.

This was stated by the chief executive of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Tariq Iqbal Puri while giving his comments on the approval of Council for Trade in Goods (CTG) of World Trade Organization (WTO) to the zero-duty access of EU to Pakistan on 75 items mostly textiles products.

It may be noted that EU Commission had proposed the Emergency Autonomous Trade Preference for Pakistan early 2010 for three to help Pakistan to recover from 2010's floods, and submitted this package to the WTO for waiver in October 2010, which has now been granted by the WTO members on 1st February, 2012.

The duration of the concession has been reduced to two years, instead of three years. However, it was further approved that EU reserves its right to request an extension of this duration by another year if it considers that this is necessary for the economic recovery of Pakistan.

Puri said that among 75 items, 20 products have been subjected to quantitative limitation. This limitation is based on average import quantity, in tons, three years (2007, 2008 and 2009) plus 20% increment, except ethanol which has limited to 80,000 metric tons at three years average plus 24% increment, while in the original text this limit was up to 100,000 tons, he noted.

He said that EU's total world import of these 75 products is estimated at $43.8 billion and Pakistan's export of these items to EU stands at $1.4 billion which is about 27 percent of Pakistan's total export of $5.1 billion to the European Union.

The export of $1.4 billion in these items to EU under the present tariff structure is a clear indication that Pakistan can raise its share manifold if allowed duty free access in European market.

He was confident that value of Pakistan's exports to EU in these items can go up significantly, provided exporters are facilitated by the government in terms of utility supply round the year.

Puri said that in ethyl alcohol alone, Pakistan can export up to 80,000 metric tons quantity to EU without any duty, thus can double its exports from current $ 37 million (at 20 % duty) to fetch at least $ 100 million. Brazil (31%), Egypt (10%) and Peru are the major suppliers to EU, paying a duty of 20 percent, he noted.

Similarly, in the category of gloves (six lines 4203100-910-991-999), Pakistan with 12 % share, can raise its export in EU from present $ 120 million to $ 250 million easily under duty free regime with the help of good marketing strategy.

He said that Chinese and India are the major supplier of gloves to EU with 40% and 16% share respectively and paying a duty of 4.5 per cent.

Puri noted that Pakistan can raise its exports to EU from current $534 million to $750 million in two lines of leather, three lines of cotton yarn, four lines of women fabrics and garments, five lines of knitted garments and two lines of toilette linen.

In three lines of footwear, we can enhance our exports to EU from current $32 million to double under zero duty to EU which is importing shoes of various kinds worth $8.8 billion.

In the category of women garments, Pakistan can also enhance its share from $ 20 million to $ 50 million to EU whose imports touched 1.5 billion in 2010. Our major competitors are China, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam who are subjected to 9.6 % duty, he added.

Puri pointed out that in four categories of drapery, tapestry and upholstery, where Pakistan can raise its exports from more than $60 million to $100 million enjoying exemption from 9.6% duty. -APP

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